Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Chase Your Shadow


One day my mother suggested,"Go outside and run around the house a few times. See if you can catch your shadow."
 Our house in Hawaii wasn't very big, but for a 5 year old boy this was an adventure.
"Mom knows what she's talking about." I thought, "I'll catch my shadow and bring it back to her."
 Part of the yard was like a jungle with Bird of Paradise plants towering over my head.
After circling the house a couple times I realized I would not be able to catch my shadow.
By that time I had found something else to do, my mother had rescued me from boredom.

We spend much of our life chasing insubstantial things.
When we meet frustration, we give up for a while, then resume the chase.
A hunger for happiness drives our pursuit.

Material pleasure is described as sruti-sukha: "Happiness that one hears about, but never fully tastes because it stays just out of reach."
At some point we realize the futility of chasing things,
the best things in life are not 'things'.


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